One U.S. company that recently came to the state is Wyomissing, Pa.-based Carpenter Technology Corp. (CRS), which broke ground last week in the state's Limestone County to build a new 400,000-square-foot plant.

Carpenter Technology is one of 70 domestic manufacturers that announced plans last year to set up a factory in Alabama. They're expected to create 4,879 jobs and $1.6 billion in capital investment over the next two to three years.

In January, they unveiled "Accelerate Alabama," a plan to aggressively court manufacturers in 11 business sectors over the next five years. The 11 sectors include automotive, aerospace agricultural products, information technology and bioscience.

"We're focusing on where we expect manufacturing to thrive in the future," said Steve Sewel, executive vice president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.

The program highlights the benefits manufacturers can get by bringing their business there. One advantage is Alabama's right-to-work statute, which puts a damper on union activity.

The law says workers can't be forced to join, or abstain from joining, a union as a condition of employment. "Manufacturers are more at ease making large investments knowing this fact," said Canfield.

Other advantages include relatively low labor wages and living costs, as well as state incentives that include free workers' training and recruiting programs.

State officials are also going so far as to pitch company executives with Alabama's world class golf courses, hotel resorts, bass fishing and hunting trails.

"Whether it's our golf courses or bass trails, which are very popular with Japanese executives, or NASCAR, [these intangibles] give Alabama a leg up on the competition," said Canfield.

The state developed its famous Robert Trent Jones golf trail in the 1980s with the specific intention of drawing company executives to the state.

Raymond Cheng, whose company SoZo was hired by Golden Dragon Precise Copper of China to scout U.S. locations in 2011, said: "It was also important for our clients to choose a place with a good quality of life for executives and staff," he said.

Alabama has a lot going for it, such as its golf courses, but Chinese restaurants are few and far between, he quipped.

Meanwhile, Carpenter Technology's $518 million plant is scheduled for completion by 2014. It will produce about 27,000 tons of premium alloy products for the aerospace and energy industries annually, said Bernie Mara, the company's vice president of global advanced engineering.

The company chose Alabama out of 250 worldwide locations, said Mara.

"At the end of the day, the incentive package that Alabama offered us, in terms of tax abatements, labor training programs and infrastructure grants were very compelling," he said.